HOWTO Flash Firmware of a Samsung DVD writer

mciahel

Since I was not happy with the instructions given on Samsung website, I thought, I write my own. Here is it.
Please read also the firmware chapter of the FAQ since additional information is provided there.

1. Obtaining firmware

Get the firmware for your drive from Samsung official support websites:

• http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Firmwa...FWDownload.asp(english)
• http://www.samsungodd.com/kor/Firmwa...FWDownload.asp (korean)
• http://www.samsungodd.com/rus/Firmwa...FWDownload.asp(russian)

If you can't find the firmware for your drive, try one of the other sites mentioned here.
Formerly, Samsung provided firmware and flash utility as separate files to download (I'll call it "classic" furtheron). Newer firmware releases contain both in a self-executing (ZIP) archive (I'll call it "all-in-1" furtheron). So your download is either some .exe or a .bin file, depending on the firmware version.

If you got a .bin file, you can get the flash utility - SFDNWIN - from here: sfdnwin.exe download.
Users of Vista and Win7 should use TSDNWIN instead: tsdnwin.exe download. Tsdnwin also works with XP and Windows 2000.
Put it into the same folder as your firmware .bin files.

2. How it works

Both - the classic and the all-in-1 - work basically the same way:

• Run flasher
• load firmware
• flash firmware
• reboot

The all-in-1 package extracts sfdnwin.exe (the flasher) and autorun.bin (the firmware file) to C:\Temp. If this folder does not exist, then it will be created. Administrative permissions are required.

2.1 Run Flasher

Run the executable you downloaded, either the all-in-1 package as shown here
Bild00.pngor sfdnwin.exe
Now select the drive you want to flash
Bild01.pngBild02.png
The flash utility is ready then.

2.2 Load firmware

Klick on the "load file" button
Bild03.png
and browse for the firmware file you want to flash into your drive. If you used the "all-in-1", then "autorun.bin" will be offered by default (*):
Bild04.png

2.3 Flash firmware

Klick on the "download" button to start the firmware update process:
Bild04a.png
Then you have to wait and watch the progress bar until the process is finished
Bild06.png
After clicking on "OK", your system will be rebooted immediately.

Official instructions for using the "One-Click" Method can be found on SamsungODD website: http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Firmwa...wnload/FW1.htm

* Strange things happen, if you also have .bin firmwares near the "all-in-1" package:

• If there is a folder named "bin" containing firmwares, then the flash utility shows these as default instead of autorun.bin. This occurs if the flasher has been started previously and the files in C:\Temp exist.
• If there is a .bin firmware in the same version as the "all-in-1" in the same directory, then the .bin file is deleted provided the filenames are the same apart from the extension

mciahel

With their latest firmwares, Samsung has published a new firmware flasher also: TSDNWIN

Usage is basically the same as with the older SFDNWIN utility:

1. Select the drive you want to flash
2. Klick "Search" button to load the firmware file (if not already offered)
3. Klick the "Download" button to flash the loaded firmware into your drive

tsdnwin.jpg
The "-NOCHECK" commandline parameter still works

mciahel

For the users of non-Windows operating systems, there are also DOS flashers - SFDNDOS and the newer TSDNDOS - available. These DOS-flashers can be found on Dell support website.
Just use the search engine there, grab the firmware that contains the desired flasher, extract with 7-zip and you're set.

Next step is to get the firmware for your own drive (see post #1). Since the firmware packages offered by Samsung are self-extracting ZIP-archives, there shouldn't be a problem extracting the firmware file (your_firmware.bin)

Put both, firmware and flasher onto a drive you can access after having booted up your system into plain DOS (Floppy, USB-Stick, etc.) In case you want to use a bootable CD, make sure, this disc is not used in the drive you want to apply the firmware update. On modern computers, a bootable USB-Stick is the most convenient method.

Usage is simple:
After having booted to plain DOS, navigate to the location you have put flasher and firmware. Then submit this command:
(replace "your_firmware" by the real name of the firmware file)

The parameters [port] and [option] are optional and can be omitted:

[port]= SM (secondary master), SS (secondary slave), TM (third master), TS (third slave), not sure if PM (primary master) or PS (primary slave) do work also. This parameter might be useful in case the drive is no longer recognised and has to be "blind" flashed.

[option] the flasher allows several options, which are unfortunately not publicly documented. The most wanted would be -n in order to override the hardware check.

Examples:

sfdndos firmware.bin

Flashes firmware to a recognized drive

sfdndos firmware.bin SM

Flashes firmware on a drive that is on secondary master

sfdndos firmware.bin -n

Flashes firmware to a drive without checking if firmware and drive fit

sfdndos firmware.bin SS -n

Flashes firmware to a drive on secondary slave without checking if firmware and drive fit

If you get the message UPDATE SUCCESSFUL, you're ready.
Restart your computer then.

Usage of TSDNDOS is basically the same.

Important
Do not restart earlier, you might kill your drive.
Before you get the message
"UPDATE SUCCESSFUL", there are messages indicating the progress of the flashing process:
"Update STEP(nn).. Successful." (nn is a number starting from 1 and ending at 34)
Wait until the final "UPDATE SUCCESSFUL (At this time please reboot your computer)" message appears.
(Thanks to NewFish for reporting this )

mciahel

Samsung ODD now released a flasher for Apple's Mac computers: TSDNMAC

You can get TSDNMAC from here: http://samsungodd.com/KorLib/File/TSDNMAC.ZIP

TSDNMAC works exactly the same way like the Windows version, but you need the "naked" firmware in .bin format. These are readily available from SamsungODD firmware download website for drives, that are listed with an Apple icon. For all other drives, you need to extract the .bin firmware from the Windows package, which is nothing else than a (self-executable) ZIP archive.

Detailled instructions about the usage can be obtained from here: http://www.samsungodd.com/kor/Firmwa...oad/maceng.htm